Digital Accessibility Community of Practice

Join the Digital Accessibility Community of Practice (DACoP) to hear presentations from people working in accessibility. Bring your questions to receive advice and guidance in a supportive, informal group setting.

The DACoP replaces the Web Standards Clinics. If you used to attend the clinics, the DACoP is for you.

How often the DACoP meets

The DACoP meets once a month for . It’s run by the Web Standards team from Te Tari Taiwhenua | Department of Internal Affairs (DIA).

When and where for meetings

What the DACoP is about

The DACoP is for sharing and learning about the interesting, innovative or just plain exciting things practitioners are doing to make the digital world more accessible. Each meeting will include 1 or 2 presentations ranging from to .

The meetings are also a forum for people to ask questions, general or specific, theoretical or technical, about digital accessibility. The emphasis is on best practice and practical solutions.

Who can attend

The DACoP is for anyone involved in delivering digital services — public or private sector.

It’s free to join and attendance at the monthly sessions is on a drop-in basis — no reservation is needed. Many people come and go during meetings as their schedules allow.

Do you care to share?

If you’re keen to share what you’re doing or thinking about digital accessibility, the community would love to hear it. You could do a show and tell, a presentation with slides, or anything in between. If this is something you’re interested in doing, please email web.standards@dia.govt.nz.

Meetings are not recorded

To create a safe space for attendees, the meetings are not recorded. The only information recorded is the organisations represented by attendees and the topics of discussion.

When and where for meetings

The meetings are held via Microsoft Teams only, on the last Thursday of each month, from to .

To get the Teams link for the meetings, email web.standards@dia.govt.nz.

2025 meeting dates

Upcoming presentations

Basic accessibility testing: why accessibility matters for everyone

Nikki Chua-Amparo from the Ministry of Social Development will talk about:

  • the basic accessibility testing their team does as part of their regular website testing
  • what tools their team uses
  • how they’re improving accessibility for their users.

Digital Accessibility Standard research insights

Over the last 3 months, the Web Standards team at DIA (Jason and Katherine) have been talking to a lot of people about the current state of accessibility in government. They’ll share the insights gained from this work.

Previous presentations

Incorporating accessibility reviews and testing into the development cycle of a large website as part of a technical modernisation project

Bon Wilton Scott from the Department of Conservation (DOC):

  • outlined the strategic approach taken for accessibility
  • looked in detail at how the project incorporated accessibility into its development cycles.

Bon is a Product Owner and Senior UX Advisor at DOC. He is the product owner for the DOC website and the Discover the Outdoors interactive map. Bon champions easy to use and accessible digital information and experiences for all users.

Making accessible documents

Ana Medina and the Policy team at Wellington City Council turned a complex ‘accessible’ Word document into a simple HTML page. Ana spoke about that journey and what they learned in the process.

Developing accessible training material for screen reader and keyboard users

Have you ever developed training material without the ability to use diagrams or guide someone visually around a screen? Or tried to learn a new application where you can only explore it piece by piece — while feeling the pressure to get it right, be productive, and not make a mistake everyone will see?

Di Drayton discussed how the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) addresses those challenges by creating effective training for screen reader and keyboard users.

EN 301 549 demystified

Jason Kiss talked about about EN 301 549, the European Union (EU) accessibility standard.

A structured approach to digital accessibility audits at MSD

Swetha Basu and Praneita Narayan from the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) presented on:

  • when to start reviewing accessibility
  • templates that can help audits
  • challenges the team faced and how they overcame them.

Welcome and update

The Web Standards team presented on:

  • the plan for the Digital Accessibility Community of Practice
  • information about the Web Standards updates
  • what’s happening with the Digital Accessibility Standard
  • an update about CWAC (Centralised Web Accessibility Checker).

Utility links and page information

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